House of Lies (2014) Season 3 Review & TV Preview - David L. $Money Train$ Watts, FuTurXTV & HHBMedia.com - 2-20-2014

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Mary: I know what I'm doing at work, but at home with him I don't have a

fucking clue

Marty: Welcome to the new economy America where only the richest, meanest and smartest will remain.

Marty: The deterrent aspect of mutually assured destruction is predicated on the assumption that both parties are rational. Now you not being a good

person by any stretch are at least a rational individual. I on the other hand,

I'm a goddamn terrorist and I will crash my 767 right into your prodigious

fucking forehead.

Marty: You know what? Maybe I should suck your dick, I've already got your balls in my hand

Marty: H.B.S., that's Harvard Business School cause fuck if they are going to

waste their valuable time saying that whole thing.

Marty: You're gonna be eating so much crow when I come back here with blue balls you're gonna have feathers coming out of your ass.

A subversive, scathing look at a self-loathing management consultant from a

top-tier firm. Marty, a highly successful, cutthroat consultant is never above

using any means (or anyone) necessary to get his clients the information they

want.ShowtimeIMDB

HOUSE OF LIES SEASON 3 (2014) REVIEW & TV PREVIEW 2-20-2014 2-20-2014 - Written By: David L. $Money Train$ Watts Journalist/Film Reviewer

FuTurXTV & HHBMedia.com - David Velo Stewart Editor HHBMedia.com - $$$$$

David L. $Money Train$ Watts FuTurXTV HHBMedia.com [email protected] www.hhbmedia.com David Velo Stewart

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It would be an insult to say that the best Black sitcom on TV right now is Showtimes

House of Lies merely because House of Lies is centered around the Black character

Marty Kaan played by Don Cheadle. The typical three pillars of urban TV comedies are

baby mama drama, hood jokes and bashing Buppies for not being real. If you think I am

exaggerating watch any Black sitcoms like BETs The Game and Lets Stay Together

or any Tyler Perry sitcoms on TBS or now on OWN and I defy you to find one episode

that does not one or all those three elements somewhere in any episode. I will say

again Kevin Harts Real Hollywood Husbands is one of the most funny, well written

and diverse Black sitcoms out today, but I still think House of Lies is the best Black

sitcom and one of the best sitcoms on TV on TV today. But the reason why I have to

even say House of Lies and Black sitcom in the same sentence is because there are

still millions of Blacks who have not seen Season 1 or 2 of House of Lies. And now we

have started Season 3 I want to start the debate before BET brings The Game back for

its new season in two weeks and starts claiming once again that it has TVs top Black

sitcom. What is being lost when Black Twitter is not going nuts about House of Lies as

much as The Game is that many Black TV viewers are missing the antics of one of TVs

most articulate, funny and unique Black characters. We have to see the best to know

how high to set the bar. Or you get embarrassing dumb slop like Tyler Perrys Love Thy

Neighbor. It would be too easy to say House of Lies was not Black enough because

some of its main characters are white and many of Martys clients are white. But that all

changes on Season 3 and it may be the season that draws in many new Black viewers.

House of Lies creator Matthew Carnahan ended last season on a highly dramatic note

as Marty quit his powerful management consultant firm Galweather-Stearn to start his

own management consultant firm Kaan & Associates. Jeannie Van Der Hooven (Kristen

Bell), who may or may not had drunken sex with Marty and told Marty she loved him,

decided to stay at Galweather-Stearn with Martys naively loyal numbers man Doug

Guggenheim (Josh Lawson). Even Clyde Oberholt (Ben Schwarz) abruptly and harshly

abandoned Marty to go work for Martys ex-wife and professional ball buster Monica

Talbot (Dawn Olivieri). So Martys world was left in shambles with no clear direction. But

Marty Kaan is a survivor and fighter, so he bounces back and gets Kaan & Associates

going and ready to take off. Eventually by the fifth episode of Season 3 Marty, Jeanie,

Doug and even disloyal backstabbing Clyde are fully reunited at Kaan & Associates.


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I will not give away spoilers or sneaks about all the outrageous and humorous twists

and turns and plot twists to make this impossible reunion possible. What is most

important that by the fifth episode the band is back together, so now the real hijinks,

chaos and confusion that usually follows when Martys best laid plans to salvage his

clients business hits a few minor speed bumps, major potholes or a sink hole of epic

destruction. Marty gets hired by a popular urban fashion label called DollaHyde that is

jointly controlled and owned by the sensible and business minded Dre Collins (Mekhi

Phifer) and the fun, free-wheeling and temperamental Lucas Frye (T.I.). Marty is

immediately thrown into an ethical dilemma when he realizes that the best way to take

DollaHyde to the next level of fashion mega-stardom and get DollaHyde a successful

IPO launch is to get rid of the troublesome and unpredictable Lucas. And Dre is whole

heartedly in agreement with Martys master plan to get rid of his childhood friend and

business partner because he also feels that Lucas is holding the DollaHyde brand back.

So from episode 4 Soldiers through episode 5 Soldiers, episode 6 Middlegame and

episode 7 Pushback we see the most developed minority storylines so far in House of

Lies. And these episodes were also a great way to showcase the new dynamic of Marty

having to defer his decisions like choosing to stick with Dre over Lucas to his new

partner Jeannie whereas the previous seasons Marty would just tell Jeannie what was

gonna happen and that would be it. But Jeannies character has grown up, so much that

she goes behind Martys back and seduces and sleeps with Lucas. Marty then learns

the next day that Lucas will sell his DollaHyde share to Dre not at $50 million but only at

$125 million. Mary looks shocked as Jeanine informs Marty that if he cannot get $125

Million then he is going to be Lucass bitch. This type of bold and ballsy Jeannie did not

exist before, so it is only going to make House of Lies stronger and more balanced. It is

Martys world on House of Lies, but he can no longer easily bully Jeannie to do things

or expect her to blindly following his orders. I also like the fact that Clyde fell hard from

being Martys biggest cheerleader to now a distant outcast/pariah until he proves he can

land a major whale of a client for Kaan & Associates. Clyde was so smooth and full of

himself that it is only inevitable that when gets back in good graces with Marty there will

always be the potential of him again crashing and burning. And one of my favorite

characters in the show is Doug because he is now married and under as much pressure

from his bossy wife to have a baby as he is from Marty to make great financial reports.


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What is also interesting in the DollaHyde storylines is how it is a mirror to all the turmoil

in Martys personal and home life with his son Roscoe Kaan (Donis Leonard, Jr.) and

his dad Jeremiah Kaan (Glynn Turman). As Marty gets closer to Dre as a business

partner and a friend we see him and Jeannie debate about whether Marty is really

wishing he had Dres normal family life. Marty in the first two seasons has gone well out

of his way to be supportive of Roscoes eccentric and trans-gender behavior. But Marty

is not feeling Roscoes new girlfriend Lex (Bex Taylor-Klaus) who likes to dress as and

act like boy. That is until Marty takes Lex home one night with Roscoe and then Lex has

to strip off her guy gear before going inside her suburban home. There is much friction

between Marty and Roscoe when Marty insists that Roscoe not bring Lex to Dres

mansion to meet Dres wife and their two well behaved kids. It seems like Roscoe could

be as weird as he wanted to be amongst his white schoolmates and at home, but Marty

was not going to let Roscoe embarrass him in front of an important Black client and

potential friend. Marty also does not approve of Jeremiah sleeping around with a young

Black female college flunky. There are many subtle parallels between Marty trying to

control his family in almost the same way he wants Dre to control or get rid of Lucas to

present DollaHyde as a respectable and profitable urban fashion empire. There has not

really been this many Black characters or multiple Black storylines since the Season 2

of House of Lies where we were introduced to Martys brother Malcolm Kaan (Larenz

Tate) and his old business school alum Tamara (Nia Long). Also, Marty is out jogging

late at night and then has to deal with the hot issue of police racial profiling Black men.

Marty had few options to fight the racism he experienced when the cops beat him up.

I also look forward on Season 3 of House of Lies to see where the writers will go with

Marty and Jeannie as a potential couple or lovers. It may not happen because it seems

they both like to avoid being the first one to admit their real feelings for each other. You

can see that the pressing fear that Marty and Jeannie face is getting rejected by one of

them and then forever be perceived as the emotionally weak one at work and among

their co-workers. And still complicating things in Martys life is his on and off again

toxic sexual relationship with Monica. I kinda feel bad that Dawn Olivieri has not gotten

an Emmy, SAG or Globe nom. She is so good at being bat crazy Monica that she

should get more critical accolades. Yet, I would have preferred Marty dating a strong,

independent sista character like the egotistical motivational speaker Sandra Joy (Salli

Richardson-Whitfield). But for some reason Sandra was only on one episode so far.


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Without a doubt I believe Marty Kaan is one of the most exciting, complex and original

characters on TV. Marty has been hailed by TV critics as one the first Black antiheroes.

Marty Kaan is not killing folks and running a criminal empire like Giancarlo Esposito did

on Breaking Bad as the Chicken Man. The difference is that Don Cheadle is the

shows lead character and not a side character. There have been an avalanche of

excellent Black TV antiheroes like Omar, Snoop, Avon Barksdale, Stringer Bell, Brodie

or Marlo Stanfield on The Wire. But we have to be honest and no matter how bad ass

those TV criminals were on The Wire there were also equally morally challenged Black

cop characters like Bunk, Kima or Lester Freeman. To be really fair the only other truly

lead Black antihero on TV today that can match Marty Kaan in cunning, ruthlessness

and smarts is BBCs Luther played by Idris Elba. So hopefully Season 3 will be another

breakout time for Don Cheadle to finally win an Emmy as Best Actor in Comedy Series

and hopefully another Golden Globe as well. In my opinion Don Cheadle deserves an

Emmy way more than Kerry Washington does for her silly, side piece role on Scandal.

And I truly do think that the DollaHyde narrative can easily attract some new Black fans

to House of Lies. And sometimes it is the most direct and sarcastic dialogue in House

of Lies that has me laughing out loud. For example, Doug is panicking and upset that

he may have killed Lucass dog by bringing some chocolates that caused the dog to get

fatally sick. Doug says, Who brings a dog to a night club. The second hand smoke

alone could kill him. The line is so Doug and it falls right in line with the ironic and

sometimes un-PC or unapologetic humor in the show. The good news for fans of House

of Lies is that Showtime has already renewed the comedy series for another season.

So we are guaranteed that Marty Kaan and all his Kaan & Associates crew will be back

next year doing and saying whatever it takes to get paid, close a deal or sign a client. I

am very proud to give House of Lies $$$$$ and cant wait to see the rest of Season 3.


House of Lies (2014) Season 3 Review & TV Preview - David L. $Money Train$ Watts, FuTurXTV & HHBMedia.com - 2-20-2014

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